I just love it when technology from one sector has a surprising impact on technology from another. For instance, the lithium-ion batteries and other parts in cell phones have problems with overheating. That's bad. A heat-spreader is an extremely thin graphite layer that improves heat distribution in the iPhone. That's good.
Earth2Tech writer, Josie Garthwaite reported for Reuters that GrafTech International, a massive graphite electrode supplier has been working on a equivalent solution for heat distribution in electric vehicles due to roll off the assembly line in 2014. Turns out that graphite is a way better material to use than the aluminum and copper commonly used in electric car batteries with "75% less weight and a higher thermal conductivity." It took what was learned in cell phone technology to find solutions for the EV industry.
With a little more tweaking on the production costs (batteries account for about 40% of the cost of an EV) this technology should bring us a giant step closer to the perfect electric car. And that folks is a very good thing. Photo Credit: Getty Images